Business travel pricing isn’t what it used to be.
In today’s market, where airline and hotel rates fluctuate not just seasonally but daily — sometimes hourly — getting the “best deal” has become far more complex. The question many companies are now asking isn’t how much are we spending, but rather, are we getting value for money?
It’s a fair question and a critical one. However, in an environment where pricing is dynamic and supply chains are increasingly unpredictable, measuring value goes far beyond comparing costs.
For Finance Directors, Procurement Leads, HR teams, and Executive Assistants alike, understanding what “value” really looks like in business travel is essential to building a smarter, more resilient programme.
Why pricing is no longer the full picture
Take airfares, for example. Two identical seats on the same flight can vary in price depending on:
- Booking lead time
- Time of day or day of the week
- Booking channel or supplier
- Demand forecasting by the airline
Hotel rates are similarly unpredictable, with prices shifting based on local events, room availability, loyalty status, or even historical demand patterns.
The bottom line? Pricing has become too volatile to serve as a standalone benchmark for value. Instead, organisations need to broaden their lens to assess what they’re actually getting (and what they’re avoiding) when it comes to business travel.
What does value for money really mean?
Measuring value means assessing more than just cost. It includes:
- Total trip cost: not just fares, but ancillaries, cancellations, upgrades, and changes
- Booking behaviours: are travellers complying with policy? Are they booking early enough to secure better rates?
- Duty of care: is the trip safe, secure, and visible to the organisation at all times?
- Time efficiency: how much time is saved (or lost) by the choices made?
- Sustainability: are the chosen suppliers aligned with your company’s ESG objectives?
- Traveller satisfaction: are employees happy with the options provided, or bypassing policy out of frustration?
The most effective travel programmes take a holistic approach, combining data, behavioural insights, and policy structure to build a programme that delivers consistency and clarity — not just short-term savings.
Using analytics and benchmarking to measure value
One of the most powerful tools companies can use to determine value is data. Not just raw numbers, but insights.
At ACE Travel Management ATG UK, we work with clients to implement smart analytics and benchmarking tools that make it possible to answer key questions, such as:
- Are we paying more than the market average for a specific route or hotel?
- Which departments or individuals are booking outside of policy most frequently?
- What would we save if all flights were booked 14+ days in advance?
- How are our carbon emissions tracking month-on-month?
- Which suppliers are delivering best-in-class value, not just pricing?
These tools don’t just report on spend, they help identify opportunities to adjust policies, communicate with travellers, negotiate better supplier deals, or shift behaviours in a meaningful way.
The role of behaviour in driving or diluting value
Even with the best negotiated rates and policies in place, value can quickly erode through unmanaged traveller behaviour.
A few common examples:
- Booking premium hotels “just in case”.
- Choosing flexible fares unnecessarily.
- Booking direct with suppliers instead of through approved channels.
- Failing to cancel unused bookings or flights.
This is why value management has to include the people element. When you understand how and why travellers make the choices they do, you can introduce solutions — like better communication, approval processes, or reporting — to steer behaviour without creating friction.
Taking a programme-level view
Flights and hotels may make up the bulk of business travel spend, but they shouldn’t be managed in isolation. A fragmented approach risks missed savings, inconsistent experiences and poor policy compliance.
To truly measure and drive value, companies need to:
- Set clear travel policies that balance cost, duty of care and flexibility.
- Track performance over time, not just per transaction.
- Engage stakeholders across departments, from finance to HR to procurement.
- Leverage analytics to inform, not just report.
- Partner with a TMC that can bring clarity to the complexity.
Final thought: it’s about smarter decisions, not just cheaper bookings
In today’s volatile pricing environment, value for money isn’t about spending less; it’s about spending wisely.
With the right data, policy structure and behavioural insights, businesses can take control of their travel programme, even in a market that refuses to sit still.
If you’d like to understand how your current travel programme stacks up or where there might be untapped value, the ACE Travel Management ATG UK team is always here for a conversation.